I just had to share some more of my fun experiences in New York City last weekend. On Sunday, my friend Terri and her boyfriend Gene, a New York City Fire Chief picked up my associate Kenneth Stovall and me at the Marriott Marquis and we headed out for a day of sightseeing. The weather was splendid, with crystal clear blue skies. A big coat did feel pretty good however, as temperatures started out in the 30s. Gene, a twenty three year veteran of the force, took us south on Fifth Avenue, toward Battery Park. There is nothing like watching an experienced New York driver at work. They have an uncanny sixth sense as they dart in and out of openings, using their horn like a weapon.

Gene is a Chief for the fire Battalion that serves the southern part of the island. They were called out on the second alarm to the World Trade Center on September 11th. We stopped by his station house. The firemen were incredibly hospitable, showing us the entire station and equipment. (They called each piece an apparatus.) The camaraderie and bond between the firefighters is remarkable.

Especially moving was the huge, ornate shrine built near the huge doors at the front of the station. The shrine serves as a memorial to all of the firefighters that have been lost over the years to in the line of duty. The battalion lost four of its five chiefs on 9/11. Gene was assigned to an uptown station at the time. He and many members of the NYFD would spend much of the following weeks in the miraculous recovery effort.

We toured Greenwich Village and then made our way to Chinatown, where we enjoyed dim sum in a real Chinese restaurant. Their slogan was, “only sharks enjoy fresher seafood.” And true to their word, they had massive aquariums where they fished the prawns, crabs, octopuses and fish right out for preparation, when you ordered them! We visited a shrinking Little Italy and then headed to watch the Jets play with some real New York football fans. New Yorkers live and die with their sports teams, and when the Jets let the Ravens come back to win in overtime, our New York hero was not happy.

Final part tomorrow...

Here is a look at the 06Z run of the GFS valid for midnight Tuesday night:

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/namer/gfs/06/fp0
_096.shtml

That would suggest a squall line racing through Alabama with potential for damaging winds Tuesday night. I especially notice the 850 winds (about 5,000 feet) progged to be at 50 knots over us. Very impressive.

For folks headed up north that also suggests a big pre-Thanksgiving snow in the general area from Nebraska to Minnesota.

It is also interesting to note the latest GFS statistics are coming in much colder for us on Thanksgiving with a high of 52. The model shows the low here on Friday morning at 30 degrees. I love the cold weather for Thanksgiving.

We will be watching developments very closely; it will be an active and interresting week....

Not much has changed in my thinking about the weather for the game today in Tuscaloosa. Sunshine is breaking out across areas of North Central Alabama. But satellite photos show extensive cloudiness over much of Mississippi. This cloudiness will move across Alabama later today. An area of showers is over southern Mississippi. It is part of a larger area of showers and storms that extends from Southeast Texas, across Louisiana and into Mississippi. This activity is being produced by overrunning, or air going uphill over the airmass currently over the Southeast. The precipitation is edging ENE, and will enter western sections of Alabama around 10 a.m. I think most of the activity will stay south of I-20, but a few showers will overspread much of the rest of North Central Alabama, especially as we head into the afternoon hours. Take your rain gear to Bryant-Denny Stadium just in case.